An Analysis of the Orange Import Market in the Iran

Import of fruits has increased dramatically in recent years and orange is one of the main imported fruits. This study has evaluated import demand of orange and the structure of import market of Iran with each of the major partner countries, applying Inverse Almost Ideal demand system (IAIDS) and residual demand model respectively, using the seasonal data during the summer of 2005 until winter 2010 and seasonal econometrics modeling. The results indicate that, base on the own elasticity, United Arab Emirates, Egypt and South Africa have low sensitivity to any change in import quantity of orange, whereas Turkey show more sensitivity rather than other countries. The results of cross elasticity show that exporter countries of orange to Iran are weak substitutes for each other and according to the results of residual demand model there is some degrees of monopoly in Iran´s orange import market with Egypt, In order to eliminate the monopoly of Egypt exporters at Iran´s orange import market, it is possible to increase the market share of other countries.

JEL Classification: Q14, Q13

Keywords:
Orange, Almost Ideal Demand System (IAIDS), Residual Demand Model, Iran